DALLAS — In the mad dash to replace Nick Saban as king of the SEC’s hill, an outsider leads the pack.
You know the coach and you recognize the championship resume, but he’s probably not the first name on the tip of your tongue. That man is Brian Kelly.
The LSU coach has won more games than his colleagues — seven straight 10-win seasons spread across Notre Dame and LSU leads all of college football — and is seemingly in the championship discussion year after year no matter the challenges or amount of talent on his roster. Heck, he won 10 games and led LSU to the SEC Championship Game after inheriting 39 scholarship players in his first season. The knock, of course, is the lack of national titles in a 33-year career that has included stops at Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame.
But if there is to be a breakthrough, a changing of the tide, circle the 2024 season for LSU. History shows the third year is usually the best under Kelly’s leadership.
“Year 3 is a level of accountability in every program that I’ve taken over, that is heightened,” Kelly told CBS Sports at the SEC Media Days on Monday. “There’s a trust factor and an accountability level within our process that pops, if you will, and that’s this year.”
Much like Saban’s ballyhooed “process,” Kelly subscribes to the same path. As fans clamor for immediate turnarounds, Kelly provides success, but baked into that process is a slow build toward breakthrough in Year 3.
For Central Michigan, it was a nine-win year and MAC title.
For Cincinnati, it was an undefeated regular season and Big East title.
At Notre Dame, perhaps the toughest gauge of his career, it was an undefeated regular season and trip to the BCS National Championship.
For LSU, well, continuing…
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